The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I discuss books I got over the last week—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration (often these are unsolicited books from publishers). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included.

Though I made some progress on a review last week, it’s not done and posted yet so I’ll just get right to the latest books that came into my house last week!

Companions on the Road by Tanith Lee

Companions on the Road by Tanith Lee

This re-release of two fantasy novellas by World Fantasy Award–winning author Tanith Lee will be available on June 5 (mass market paperback, ebook). This slim book, which is about 200 pages in length, contains “Companions on the Road” and “The Winter Players.”

 

Now available in a redesigned edition, these classic fantasy novellas from master fantasist Lee relay the tales of brave adventurers whose lives are forever changed by the strange relics they encounter.

The Chalice:

Kachil the brigand, Feluce the rogue, and Havor the gallant–a night of blood and blood-red flames unites them in a grim siege, fabulous theft, and a journey fraught with peril. For their prize is the jeweled and golden cup of Avilllis, and their road will not end until the Force of Darkness destroys them…or yields to a far greater Power.

The Ring, The Jewel, The Bone:

These are the Relics. The Mysteries of the Shrine, known only to the priestess. Only to Oaive. Yet he knows of them–the wolflike stranger from beyond the mists. And when he profanes them, there begins a game of cold sorceries and burning shadows to be played through all eternity…one way or another.

Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker

Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker

This prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is based on the author’s notes, will be released on October 2 (hardcover, ebook, large print paperback, and audiobook).

Both of the authors will be touring around the book’s release date in October:

 

The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula’s true origins but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here …

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents’ Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they’ve thought long ended is only beginning.

A riveting novel of gothic suspense, Dracul reveals not only Dracula’s true origin, but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French

The Grey Bastards (The Lot Lands #1) by Jonathan French

After The Grey Bastards won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off in 2016, it was picked up for publication by Penguin Random House. This edition of the novel will be available on June 19 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook).

The publisher’s website has an excerpt from The Grey Bastards, as well as Jonathan French’s tour events schedule.

 

Live in the saddle. 
Die on the hog. 

Call them outcasts, call them savages—they’ve been called worse, by their own mothers—but Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard.

He and his fellow half-orcs patrol the barren wastes of the Lot Lands, spilling their own damned blood to keep civilized folk safe. A rabble of hard-talking, hog-riding, whore-mongering brawlers they may be, but the Bastards are Jackal’s sworn brothers, fighting at his side in a land where there’s no room for softness.

And once Jackal’s in charge—as soon as he can unseat the Bastards’ tyrannical, seemingly unkillable founder—there’s a few things they’ll do different. Better.

Or at least, that’s the plan. Until the fallout from a deadly showdown makes Jackal start investigating the Lot Lands for himself. Soon, he’s wondering if his feelings have blinded him to ugly truths about this world, and the Bastards’ place in it.

In a quest for answers that takes him from decaying dungeons to the frontlines of an ancient feud, Jackal finds himself battling invading orcs, rampaging centaurs, and grubby human conspiracies alike—along with a host of dark magics so terrifying they’d give even the heartiest Bastard pause.

Finally, Jackal must ride to confront a threat that’s lain in wait for generations, even as he wonders whether the Bastards can—or should—survive.

Delivered with a generous wink to Sons of Anarchy, featuring sneaky-smart worldbuilding and gobs of fearsomely foul-mouthed charm, The Grey Bastards is a grimy, pulpy, masterpiece—and a raunchy, swaggering, cunningly clever adventure that’s like nothing you’ve read before.

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